Some of the best Star Trek movie news to come out in February was announcement that sci-fi legend Alan Dean Foster would be adapting the Orci and Kurtzman script into a Novel. TrekMovie was the first with that news and today we have the exclusive first look at the front and back covers of the book, including the ‘blurb’ which gives a pretty good (spoilery) outline of the movie.

Star Trek – The Novel by Alan Dean Foster
Here is the front cover, which reflects some of the new promotional material showing up in theaters.

Back cover blurb outlines plot for Star Trek
We also have the back cover, which has the following plot summary for the novel (and the movie) outlining the origin story for Kirk and Spock and the crisis they will face with Nero and his Narada coming from the future:

One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence, for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness, and obscurity

The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution of the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world.

Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities, must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that can stop him.

Decoding the blurbRunning that blurb through TrekMovie’s magic decoder ring, we come up with this:

Star Trek is a coming of age story for James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock who each deal with childhood struggles before coming together on the USS Enterprise, as very different people. They start at odds, but find a way to work together, along with the rest of the classic Trek crew, towards that friendship and family that has become legend.

They do this when faced with the crisis of Nero, a hell-bent for revenge Romulan from the future who is wreaking havoc across the Federation with his giant monster-like ship, the Narada. It seems that he has taken the destruction of his home planet Romulus personally, and is particularly pissed off at a certain pointy eared half-Vulcan whom he was working with in the 24th century before he came back in time and started cutting a swath across the galaxy.

Read the movie May 12th + message from author
The trade paperback (measuring 5 5/16″ x 8 1/4″) has an official release date of May 12th and can be preordered at Amazon (currently discounted to $10.20). There will be audio and e-book versions, also available on May 12th. As noted in our last article on this, the novel is 192 pages long. Some fans wondered if that was short, and so Alan Dean Foster has weighed in, with a comment at TrekMovie saying:

The [Star Trek] novel manuscript came in at about 79,000 words. Not War & Peace, not Stephen King, but far, far from a novella.

When comparing number of pages in a book, remember also that font size enters into the number of words per page.

And don’t forget about the prequel comic
And if you want to get the full Star Trek experience, then you will also want to pick up the comic book prequel series, "Star Trek Countdown." The series is halfway through with the final (of four) issues coming out the last week of April. This will conincide with the release of a trade paperback compiling all four issues. If you haven’t been reading the comics so far, this TPB is your best bet as the first two comics are already sold out.

Oh yeah, and good bye Romulus. If anyone has noticed yet, this is actually the missing ingredient here. You see, the prime timeline is the one with the discrepancy, not the new one, because the only chance Romulus has of surviving is in an alternate reality and not in the prime timeline.

That certainly answers a few questions about Nero! The cover of the novel looks awesome and I am definitely going to get it! I’ve already pre-ordered the Countdown Paperback so I’m looking forward to doing some reading very soon!

The Star Trek font for the logo is fine, and I like how they executed the crews faces into it, but I wish they didn’t use it all the time. I liked the fortis caps font and hope they would use that for the subtext.

Ah, good speculation there. So, Laquisha Nero was killed with Romulus so Nero does a Silver Surfer type of deal where he offers the space octopus some other worlds to eat if it will go back in time and undo the eating of Romulus?

Oh I think he does…but the focus is on the young crew. I think this shows confidence that they feel the movie/story is solid enough to not (how to say this eloquently) have to fall back onto Nimoy’s enormity in order to get buy in.

As a big Romulan fan, I especially don’t like the sound of Romulus being destroyed. With that said, the Romulan Star Empire is made up of many, many planets. So, has it been confirmed that Romulus itself is Nero’s homeworld or is he simply from a Romulan planet? Also, if Romulus is destroyed, did the Romulan Star Empire collapse or did a new planet become the capital of the Romulan Empire?

27. Admiral_BlackCat – March 4, 2009
So no Nimoy Spock on the cover and not even a mention of him in the ‘blurb’ from the back??
****
“Spock” is mentioned, and since that is who Nimoy plays, I don’t see your point. No, he’s not on the front cover because that shows the main cast. Since Spock is already there, there’s no reason to show “older” Spock. He and Quinto play ONE character, so that character appears only ONCE. Simple. Not a slam against Nimoy. Not an issue in any way.

*****
26. Jefferies Tuber – March 4, 2009
Note that JJ’s credit is the same, largest font size as Gene’s. I’m sure it was just his agent’s doing, but that’s, uh, confidence. Or hubris.
*******
Which credit are you talking about? Abrams doesn’t even have a credit on the cover, and his credit is the same as everyone else’s on the back cover. So…what are you talking about? Some other credit somewhere?

Geesh, people! Stop creating problems that DO NOT EXIST.

I’ll wait until I see the movie, but I’m eager to read a Trek novelization for the first time since “The Voyage Home.” Foster is a capable, talented writer with a style that I’ve always enjoyed, so this should be a better than average novel.

#29
I’m hoping the answer is provided in the novel. I think there will be so much going on on-screen that they might vaguely touch on that point in the movie, but let’s hope it’s expanded upon in the novel.

“In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution of the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world.”

I can’t help it but this part of the summary totally reminds me of the Doomsday Machine….

So Earth gets Attacted in the movie and romulas gets destroyed. The past changes and Prime Spock has to go back and try and correct things. So much going on. Could it also be that the doomsday machine makes an apperence or is it just the narada doing it. But what caused the destrustion of the romulan sun. Was it the another doomsday machine that came into being. So much going on. Can’t wait for all the answers.